Stephen McDaniel is led from a courtroom in the Bibb County Courthouse after an appearance in December 2011. McDaniel’s lawyers filed motions Friday asking a judge to throw out potential evidence seized during searches in a roughly 20-hour span after Lauren Giddings' torso was found. They argued the warrants were issued based on information gleaned through previous “illegal warrantless searches.” gblankenship@macon.com

Stephen McDaniel is led from a courtroom in the Bibb County Courthouse after an appearance in December 2011. McDaniel’s lawyers filed motions Friday asking a judge to throw out potential evidence seized during searches in a roughly 20-hour span after Lauren Giddings' torso was found. They argued the warrants were issued based on information gleaned through previous “illegal warrantless searches.” gblankenship@macon.com

Search warrants give insight into Giddings murder case

Macon police obtained several warrants to search Stephen McDaniel’s apartment, car and body between June 30 and Aug. 11, 2011.

McDaniel’s lawyers filed motions Friday, asking a judge to throw out potential evidence seized during the searches. They argued the warrants were issued based on information gleaned through previous “illegal warrantless searches.”

In several of the searches, the lawyers allege police illegally seized items they were not authorized to take.

As part of their arguments, the lawyers attached copies of the warrants, affidavits detectives used to get the warrants and lists of what police seized.

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Warrant 1, issued 8:42 p.m. June 30, 2011: Police searched McDaniel’s apartment and took six knives, including one that was a foot long. They also seized a sword, tennis shoes, T-shirts, underwear, a gray bath towel and what are described as 13 pieces of “cutting equipment.”

Warrant 2, issued 1:55 a.m. July 1, 2011: Police searched McDaniel’s apartment and took two handguns, a rifle, rope, wooden sticks, four baseball bats and a bayonet. They also took a chain mail vest, “wad of hair,” laptop, camera, cell phone, external card drive and a memory card reader. A shoelace, receipts -- including one from Walmart dated June 23, 2011, a green scrub sponge, two keys, and a silver case with a journal and laptop also were seized, as was a foam cup with “Lauren” written on it.

McDaniel has a niece named Lauren.

Warrant 3, issued 1:55 a.m. July 1, 2011: Police searched McDaniel’s black 1997 Geo Prizm and took fabric samples from the back seat, scrapings from the airbag area, an earring and two ponchos from the glove compartment, the headliner, floor mats, rearview mirror, front seat covers, trunk mat, and a black bag from the trunk that held two ponchos, a tire gauge and an air hose.

McDaniel’s lawyers argue that some of the searches of the digital storage devices were conducted outside a 10-day limit imposed by state law, making any information gleaned from those searches inadmissable in court.

McDaniel is being held on a $850,000 bond on the murder charge but cannot be released from jail without a bond for the 30 counts of sexual exploitation of children charges levied against him. He is not eligible for a bond on those charges.

This summer, McDaniel’s lawyers argued that his bond was excessive, more than his family could afford. Both of McDaniel’s grandfathers have died since his arrest, one of whom owned the farm in Pike County where McDaniel visited the weekend before Giddings vanished.